So many headlines, so little news.
Boehner: Obama must make the next move on ‘fiscal cliff’
“If the president doesn’t agree with our proposal and our outline, I think he’s got an obligation to send one to the Congress and a plan that can pass both chambers of Congress,” Boehner said, adding that the plan Obama offered in recent days “couldn’t pass either house of the Congress.”
Meanwhile, during a meeting with a business lobbying group, the president rejected any notion that he would allow Republicans to use the debt limit to force tax and spending concessions on Democrats.
“We’re not going to play that game next year,” Obama said in remarks Wednesday to the Business Roundtable. “If Congress in any way suggests they’re going to tie up negotiations over debt ceiling votes and take us to the brink of default once again as part of a budget negotiation, I will not play that game.”
Of course the debt limit will not give Republicans any leverage. The so called “Doomsday” plan, which the media is hyping as “gaining momentum” is a dead end.
O holds all the fiscal-cliff cards:
Polls say Americans would be twice as likely to blame Republicans as Democrats for the failure to reach a deal. Now more than ever, Republicans should know better than to pretend polls aren’t telling them something….
The truth is, every way you look at it, the GOP is trapped. Republican politicians will cave and give the president most of what he wants. The only real question is when. The answer is: Probably at the worst possible time, when they’ve done even more damage to the party’s “brand.”
Here’s some small comfort for Republican politicians trapped in this Hell: On Nov. 6, the American people chose this box.
We get the government we ask for.
I say call his bluff. If a deal which tackles deficits from both revenue and spending can be reached this month, great.
If not, pass a 90 day extension of current tax rates and whatever else is needed to postpone the “cliff,” and go home for Christmas to give time for a Grand Bargain which puts Democratic sacred cows on the table.
Let Harry Reid refuse to bring it to a vote, and Obama refuse to sign it. Their inaction will be the reason for taxes rising for everyone.
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Comments
“Walk away”.
“Stand your ground”.
LET IT BURN.
http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=105&load=7762
Set the record, for sure, regardless of what the polls say about getting blamed. Then just do what economic reality demands. Take no more $$$ out of the private hands that earn it UNDER ANY GUISE. Pass spending cut bills in the House. Refuse to raise the debt ceiling. Choke off funding for the Obami.
Make the extension 30 days instead of 90. On day 29 make it another 30 days.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
This way the Pubs are making it clear that they ARE doing something. They’re voting. And let the Dems in the House vote ‘no’.
Actually, I’m all for making it a 104 day extension for two reasons:
1.) The closer you get to April 15th, the less likely that it is that whatever agreement is finally forged will be retroactive to the 2012 tax year, simply because of the logistics involved.
2.) Having the agreement expire on TAX DAY has a certain symmetry to it in terms of sticking it in Obama’s eye when he causes EVERYBODY to have to pay higher taxes by not compromising. That’s the day when everybody is actually paying attention (and 53% are feeling the tax bite). Make sure that everybody knows that next year, that 47% will be lower as the 10% rate increases back to 15%, and all the accounting gimmicks and refundable credits are removed.
Can’t argue against your logic. Making the extension expire on April 14th has a certain .. beauty .. to it.
This is getting more than a little old. Screw the democrap propaganda machine and start punching back.
Take the recent proposal refused by o’turd and create a bill of not more than 10 pages. Call it the Bowles Fiscal Responsibility Act and pass it in the House. Leave it in the incompetent hands of the treasonous democraps and start running ads. Remind the idiots this is what they voted for non-stop until Nov. 2014.
Come January Republicans should refuse to attend the SoU address.
Stop playing the childish stupid game and start punching back twice as hard. You cannot be nice to these humanoids start treating them like the humanoid waste they are.
For those of you pussies who are upset at the “violent eliminationist rhetoric”, grow up. There are two types of you fools. Those who need to grow a spine and a pair and those who are constantly running their mouths and name calling. Grow a pair and don’t whine when you get that much deserved fist in the face.
There has been an implicit tax over the last 4 years of approximately 8% per annum (excess over reported growth) or exceeding 30% total due to federal deficit spending. Unlike explicit taxation, this tax was imposed through inflation or devaluation of currency. It is a covert tax which has been difficult to detect because of the reserve currency status and other mitigating circumstances.
The concern with deficit spending, is two-fold. First, creditors will be increasingly unwilling to receive compensation which is progressively devalued. Perhaps Obama will offer tangible collateral instead, including: land, natural resources, etc. Second, the ultimate outcome is a worthless currency, where the citizens become effective slaves of the sovereign, and without means to influence or hold it (or him/them) accountable. This is when a French revolution is likely to occur, since the people have no peaceful means at their disposal to control the ambitions of a powerful and oppressive minority.
As for the fiscal cliff, it doesn’t exist. The federal government has operated without a budget for the last four years. Obama will distribute or withhold payments as he wills, as he has done, as he has threatened to do; and, he will be elected to serve a third, fourth, … term.
That said, there is a question of how pervasive the election fraud was. There is a question of what compromises people will accept to reject a retrogressive outcome. Will the environmentalists reject their fantasy of “green” energy and limit their displacement of indigenous people (think illegal aliens)? Will the “poor” reject their demand for instant gratification, especially luxury goods and services (think progressive corruption)? Will the politicians stop promising people a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (think corruption)? Will the human and civil rights businesses recognize universal human and civil rights (think individual dignity)? Will we end the elective abortion of over one million human lives annually (both unconstitutional and a human rights violation) (think value of human life)?
It is a dissociation of risk which causes corruption. It is dreams of instant gratification which motivates its progress.
The Republican Party has the same problem it had for years when the Dems. controlled both houses and the White House
They have no credibility with thinking Americans and are considered Aliens by the give me everything I want voters.
Republican leaders are totally gutless and will kiss every Democrat butt it takes to keep the status qua.
John Boehner has less balls than a eunuch.
There is something important being overlooked here. The budget. There isn’t one.
It’s an article of faith by now that republicans will huff and puff then fold. To say they’re overmatched is an understatement. Instead of going out there in the fray every day and concertedly making a case based on logic and principle, and some cunning (like, say, driving a narrative of their own that Obama WANTS to take us over the cliff), they write windy Victorian-styled petitions of grievance that no one reads and that Obama blows his nose with before going out to golf. Obama never had it so good — a lickspittle media and a hapless GOP. Who ever thought that destroying America would be such childsplay?
Since most agree that the GOP will take the blame for this regardless of what/when we do something – for a change why don’t the Republicans stand up for their principles? Let Obama explain why he wouldn’t compromise and the GOP can do the same.
Time to stop whining about how it “may” hurt us – either way the GOP is going to get dumped on if we let the Dems control the spin.
If indeed Republicans are in a damned if you do-damned if you don’t scenario then be damned for doing the right thing and let the Democrats push the red button of no meaningful compromise and see what the public has to say about it.
As it stands now, Democrats have no scintilla of respect for the House GOP Majority and their only fear is House Tea Party Conservatives shaming the spineless GOP old guard into standing up to the Democrats.
The Democrats’ fear of being forced to capitulate in the face of serious conservative brinksmanship is very very telling… it isn’t merely political run-of-the-mill anti-Tea Party rhetoric.
I believe the Democrats actually respect the Tea Party for having a backbone and principles though they would never admit it publicly.
By portraying anything less than total unconditional surrender as obstructionism for four years, the Democrat Media Complex has already destroyed the Republican brand. It seems silly to worry about the brand when Congress approval rating can not go much lower.
It’s pretty clear that by replacing Tea Partiers on important committees Boehner is tired of taking the heat and he plans to intimidate enough Republicans to join with Democrats and follow him to the Obama promised land. They only need about 30 or so spineless Republicans to abandon their principles and give the middle finger to the people who elected them to get a bad deal done.
The congressman said, “Hmm, backbone or DC cocktail party? I’ll have a very dry martini, a little dirty, with anchovy olives.”
I’d wager the Boehner et. al. think this is the perfect time to cave…too far from the next election to matter and everyone else preoccupied with holiday merrymaking to notice the dirty, fishy little deals they make.
Boehner may think that this is the perfect time to cave, being so far from the election, but that would be a fatal mistake on his part. Basically what happens right here, right now, will dictate exactly how viscous the TEA Partiers will fight in primary elections for the 2014 cycle.
Candidates are ALREADY considering filing the paperwork for primary challenges for that cycle and those who cave should be at the top of the list.
Give him an extension? Really?
Pay attention, the economy is already in recession, the MSM is just covering for Obama by not reporting on it. In three months time, the DNC byliners at the MSM will be reporting on the recession CAUSED by GOP induced uncertainty about the Fiscal Cliff.
Honestly, you really are new to the blame game, aren’t you?
If the Republicans want to enter a war with Obama at this time, they better be well prepared because they will be totally on their own in making their case. They certainly have a case to make, but it won’t be easy.
Newt Gingrich has an interesting article on this at:
http://www.humanevents.com/2012/12/05/newt-gingrich-the-smart-legislative-strategy-for-obamas-second-term/
[…] and nakedly. Don’t make excuses. Give up immediately and say “we give up”. Don’t make threats you won’t back up. Don’t go into a fight armed with a Q-tip even as Obama shows up with guns and […]
Obama 2011: We can get $1.2 trillion in revenues without raising tax rates
http://washingtonexaminer.com/obama-2011-we-can-get-1.2-trillion-in-revenues-without-raising-tax-rates/article/2515136#.UL-ukK6qLRR
This video of Obama in 2011 is making the rounds online. In it he argues that up to $1.2 trillion in revenues could be raised by closing loopholes and limiting deductions in the tax code. More importantly, he signals that it can all be done without raising tax rates.
Sorry about the length of this, it recaps what I have sent out to my email lists:
The Institutional Republicans have screwed us again. I watch these things, and the economy and Federal spending more than the average bear; and until today I missed this which was just invoked. Last year, the Republicans came up with a provision that gives total control of the Debt Ceiling to Obama. They have to do a little dance, but the Debt Ceiling can be whatever Obama wants it to be. And the regime has started the dance. That explains the noises that Geithner recently made about not needing Congress for the Debt Ceiling.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-12-05/market-takes-leg-lower-treasury-supports-use-mcconnell-provision-debt-ceiling#comments
So long as the Democrats control the Senate, there will be no concurrent resolution to stop Obama. They have no loyalty to the country and Constitution, and absolute loyalty to Party and power.
Summation:
1) Congress has lost the power of the purse. We have not had a Constitutional budget for 4 years, will not have one for a 5th year, and they have stated for several years beyond that until the economy improves.
2) We are funding the government by printing fiat currency [60%+ of the deficit spending] via the Federal Reserve and with an increasingly smaller share of real market purchases of US government securities by actual foreign and US investors. Also, a big part of the real purchases are by the Social Security “Trust Fund” which is required to purchase US government securities with its tax receipts.
3) All of #2 above is borrowing and subject to the Debt Ceiling. We have gone from having to raise the Debt Ceiling every couple of decades within living memory, to each new increase lasting a year or less. Short form, if we breach the Debt Ceiling, either things come to a screeching halt or it is shown to be fictional. If it is fictional, then there is no limit on borrowing, and there is no prospect of being paid back. EVER. Which means market sales of securities either stop, or the interest rates go straight up. Interest rates now are at record lows because of the current “recession” [really a depression, and about to dip farther down big time because of tax increases and Obamacare]. But if the market demands [and will get or there will be no real purchases of government securities] higher interest rates due to the increased risk of being left holding worthless paper, then government costs soar. Historically, interest rates have run between 3-5%. Now they are at 1.63% for a 10 year T-Bill. 90 day T-Bills are at 0.1%. If we go to historical average interest rates for government borrowing, the annual interest payments will swallow the Federal budget.
And NO, you cannot cut Defense enough to make up the difference. Right now, as best can be figured using retroactive figures because we do not have a real budget, all Defense spending including all wars and hostilities we are engaged in AND including some things that are not really defense and more Coercive Organs of the State [Homeland Security, etc.] Defense makes up 18% of Federal Spending, albeit it is a larger percentage of what is called “discretionary spending”. MOST of the Federal spending is “non-discretionary” and is automatic and cannot be changed. See all welfare programs and interest payments. Defense spending is already scheduled to be slashed January 1 as part of the “Fiscal Cliff” which was agreed to by the Institutional Republicans.
Interest payments are already around $800 billion a year on over $16 TRILLION of debt according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. Which is more than the $664.84 billion which is this year’s Defense spending before the coming slash. IF YOU ELIMINATE ALL DEFENSE SPENDING, YOU DO NOT COVER THE ANNUAL INTEREST ON THE CURRENT DEBT. If interest rates go to historical normal rate, say 4%, over time the interest paid [most debt is short term (<10 years) and has to be refinanced regularly] then the annual interest will be over $3 TRILLION a year.
There is no way that can be paid. And that is if we go to historical rates. Given the reality of the situation, then buyers are going to demand a real risk premium on holding US debt, and interest rates north of 10% may well be demanded. But let us assume that we stay at the historical average. We cannot pay the interest. The first time that we cannot make an interest payment in full, US securities and the credit of the US becomes worthless, and no one will buy them. The house of cards collapses.
That leaves the only source of "funding" for the US as the printing presses/computers of the Federal Reserve Bank churning out monopoly money as fast as they can.
What is the backing for the monopoly money? What you have in your wallet are Federal Reserve Notes. They are not backed by anything tangible. NO gold, silver, land, goods. In the top left corner it says "THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE". How can the Federal Reserve mandate this? In the law authorizing the issue, it is stated that the Federal Reserve Notes [which are all we have circulating] are backed only by "THE FULL FAITH AND CREDIT OF THE UNITED STATES". Read two paragraphs above, again.
As the value of the dollar becomes less, prices rise. See "Hyperinflation- Weimar Germany, Zimbabwe, and at one time or another most of South and Central America". As in prices rising 100%+ per day … at the beginning and getting worse. Incomes do not rise that fast. Nor will government welfare payments. Incidentally, we are a trading country. We have to import raw materials except for food. And our government is suppressing domestic production of everything. If you are ACME International, and you have a raw material to sell, are you going to take dollars that are worth less every hour as payment for delivering hard goods to the US? And if the raw materials don't come in, how is our economy going to function, let alone expand?
4) Going back to #1 above, the existence of any sort of republic is contingent on someone besides the Executive [King, President, Emperor, First Secretary, Grand High Panjandrum] controlling the finances. It is the only limit on the power of the Executive that prevents arbitrary tyranny. See our Revolution, the English Civil Wars of the 1600's when Charles I tried to tax and spend without Parliamentary authority, the French Revolution which was triggered by Louis running out of money and trying to call the first legislature that France had had in 150 years [Estates-General] to force them to raise taxes for him to spend at will. This is no small thing.
5) In reference to #’s 1 & 4, I will leave it to the Gentle Reader to consider whether we meet the definitions of “republic”, or “constitutional democracy” any more, and the implications as to duty, honor, and obedience.
6) In reference to the other points, and the matters above the summation: Speaking personally, and ex cathedra from my navel, I offer the following for your consideration and personal judgement;
a) The dance to destroy everything and give the Enemy everything that they voted for/stole November 6 is in progress.
b) It would be a good idea to watch the McConnell Resolution dance as a marker of how close we may be to collapse.
c) If you are making preparations for coming hard times [food, water, fuel, defense, alliances, self-sufficiency as a family or larger group] you might want to accelerate those.
d) If you have not started anything along the line of “c)”; the time is really short for starting.
e) It is noted that to TWANLOC, their plan for hard times is to kill you and yours and take what you have; either as private or government sponsored predators.
f) I offer the thought, for your consideration and acceptance or rejection based on your personal circumstances, that if you have access to fixed rate credit that cannot be jacked up to match the coming hyperinflation; that going into debt to accelerate “c)” above may be a rational response to conditions. YMMV. I note that debt may be uncollectable in the near future, that if collectable, it may be in dollars that are useful mainly for toilet paper, and that tangibles may be king.
Subotai Bahadur
Not real fond of the idea of dollars as toilet paper, especially once they begin replacing them with coins…
There is a movement underway to depose House Speaker John Boehner right now.
In light of that, I would have to opt for kicking these budget agreements into next year so that we might have someone better suited to deal with them at the helm.
Boehner already went charging out with the surrender flag for Obama, thankfully, that wasn’t good enough for the President, so we still have some hope.
My congressman’s e-mail is down so I tweeted this post to his office again and to Boehner’s account. Couldn’t hurt to contact your own rep’s with this strategy.